Prentiss County sheriff launches app

BALDWYN – The Prentiss County Sheriff’s Office is stepping into the future with a smartphone app to keep residents informed.
The new app will allow anyone with Android smartphones to see everyone in the Prentiss County Detention Center, the office’s most wanted criminals, active warrants and news releases. The app will arrive for iPhone users soon.
“It’s very helpful for us because the jail records are public and unless its confidential info, the pictures, charge and person’s name are public and if someone wants it, we have to provide it,” said Prentiss County Sheriff Randy Tolar. “With this app, a person can just go on there and it saves us the manpower of pulling it up and printing it and providing it to them.”
VINE Link, a victims notification system, provides the app to the sheriff’s office for free. The company has access to the sheriff’s office’s database and can notify victims when their assailant is being released from jail.
VINE Link uses the database to make the public records accessible in real time.
“We know that more and more people are getting the information they need from their smartphones,” Tolar said. “We want to make sure we’re using the latest communication technology to keep the public informed and this app lets us do that.”
The app will display current Prentiss County Detention Center inmates’ information. It also will connect users to the sheriff’s office’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The app has been available in the Android app store for almost three weeks and Tolar expects it to be in the iPhone app store very soon.
To download the free app from the Android app store, search MSPrentissSO.
jb.clark@journalinc.com